Just got done reading two books back to back by English author Joe Abercrombie, "Best Served Cold" and "The Heroes."

If you like GRRM's gritty, more adult style of fantasy you've got to read these. Probably even more dark and violent but with fantastic characters, incredible action/battle scenes, and a great storyline that keeps moving.
I sort of read these out of order, since he has a trilogy that came out first, set in the same world, and with some cross-overs with certain characters apparently, but nothing major. Either of the above can be read as a stand-alone novel, which they were meant to be. I'm tackling the trilogy next, beginning with "The Blade Itself." Enjoy!

_________________Stik
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The ConsortiumArchMaster Poster

Joined: Nov 23, 2002
Posts: 9408
Location: on the golf course, in the garden, reading, traveling, and now Consulting

Posted:
Sat Mar 03, 2012 3:35 pm

And, allow us to recommend
The Hunger Games (trilogy)
by Suzanne Collins
movie (1st) comes out this Summerish

Just got done reading two books back to back by English author Joe Abercrombie, "Best Served Cold" and "The Heroes."

If you like GRRM's gritty, more adult style of fantasy you've got to read these. Probably even more dark and violent but with fantastic characters, incredible action/battle scenes, and a great storyline that keeps moving.
I sort of read these out of order, since he has a trilogy that came out first, set in the same world, and with some cross-overs with certain characters apparently, but nothing major. Either of the above can be read as a stand-alone novel, which they were meant to be. I'm tackling the trilogy next, beginning with "The Blade Itself." Enjoy!

Great books Stik.... Even tho Heroes and Best served cold are stand alone books ... They loosely tie in with The Blade Itself... Highly recommend reading those first for anyone picking it up.

Glotka and Nine Fingers are 2 of the coolest characters in fantasy lit. Like Stik , I can't recommend these books enough for those that enjoyed GRRM

ChiefMaster Poster

Joined: Apr 15, 2003
Posts: 281

Posted:
Sun Mar 04, 2012 8:42 am

Tripwire wrote:

Sounds great! I have been looking into starting a new series! I wanted to try the hunger games and am not sure if they would be my cup of tea.

I will definately check out Abercrombie's stuff, this is the second time I have heard great things.

you will fly through the Hunger Games - believe I read each one in about 5-6 hours

_________________To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods?

Scruffy PuffAdvanced Master Poster

Joined: Jul 15, 2008
Posts: 382

Posted:
Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:29 am

The Consortium wrote:

And, allow us to recommend
The Hunger Games (trilogy)
by Suzanne Collins
movie (1st) comes out this Summerish

this is our 2nd reading - better the 2nd time!

The Hunger Games movie comes out on March 23rd. We're taking a couple busloads of students from my school to see it.

We believe The Hunger Games are a weak fit for the young adult category.They are as good as anything "adultish" out there.

But, Scruffy Puff, our eldest daughter is an 8th grade teacher, with emphasis in Literature. Guess who gave us the books?

I will also definitely see the ovie.

The Hunger Games has a teenage protagonist, mostly teenage supporting characters, and the author wrote it FOR teenagers. I think it fits extremely well in the Young Adult Literature category in which it's been placed. It definitely has mass appeal, though, like Harry Potter or Twilight -- only better.

It doesn't surprise me at all that your daughter, who recommended the book, teaches 8th grade. I teach mostly 9th graders (English Lit and Comp), and I've taught The Hunger Games each of the last three years. The first year I taught it, none of my students had even heard of it. Last year, a handful had read it prior to 9th grade. This year, about half. I'm teaching Divergent next year. lol.

In which state does your daughter teach?

The ConsortiumArchMaster Poster

Joined: Nov 23, 2002
Posts: 9408
Location: on the golf course, in the garden, reading, traveling, and now Consulting

Posted:
Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:14 pm

Scruffy Puff wrote:

The Consortium wrote:

We believe The Hunger Games are a weak fit for the young adult category.They are as good as anything "adultish" out there.

But, Scruffy Puff, our eldest daughter is an 8th grade teacher, with emphasis in Literature. Guess who gave us the books?

I will also definitely see the ovie.

The Hunger Games has a teenage protagonist, mostly teenage supporting characters, and the author wrote it FOR teenagers. I think it fits extremely well in the Young Adult Literature category in which it's been placed. It definitely has mass appeal, though, like Harry Potter or Twilight -- only better.

It doesn't surprise me at all that your daughter, who recommended the book, teaches 8th grade. I teach mostly 9th graders (English Lit and Comp), and I've taught The Hunger Games each of the last three years. The first year I taught it, none of my students had even heard of it. Last year, a handful had read it prior to 9th grade. This year, about half. I'm teaching Divergent next year. lol.

one of my best friends is a 5th grade teacher and we have the same taste in books - she got me to read Potter, The Giver and Holes - she's been after me for 2+ years to read The Hunger Games which i finally did the week before the face

I will have to ask her if she's read any of the ones on your list - was Legend turned into a movie with Tom Cruise? (I keed, I keed)

_________________To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods?

AndarusAdvanced Expert Poster

Joined: Jun 26, 2002
Posts: 121
Location: New Port Richey, FL

Posted:
Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:31 am

Another good YA series is Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. It's not quite up to the level of the Hunger Games series, but it's good.

Scruffy PuffAdvanced Master Poster

Joined: Jul 15, 2008
Posts: 382

Posted:
Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:57 pm

Scruffy Puff wrote:

The Consortium wrote:

And, allow us to recommend
The Hunger Games (trilogy)
by Suzanne Collins
movie (1st) comes out this Summerish

this is our 2nd reading - better the 2nd time!

The Hunger Games movie comes out on March 23rd. We're taking a couple busloads of students from my school to see it.

Just got back from watching The Hunger Games. Thought it was great. Hard to condense an entire novel into two hours of film without leaving things out, but this was among the better book-to-film adaptations I've seen in a while. In fact, it's is the best adaptation I've seen since Winter's Bone (coincidentally, also starring Jennifer Lawrence).

If you haven't seen it yet, you should check it out.

The ConsortiumArchMaster Poster

Joined: Nov 23, 2002
Posts: 9408
Location: on the golf course, in the garden, reading, traveling, and now Consulting

Posted:
Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:59 pm

Scruffy Puff wrote:

Scruffy Puff wrote:

The Consortium wrote:

And, allow us to recommend
The Hunger Games (trilogy)
by Suzanne Collins
movie (1st) comes out this Summerish

this is our 2nd reading - better the 2nd time!

The Hunger Games movie comes out on March 23rd. We're taking a couple busloads of students from my school to see it.

Just got back from watching The Hunger Games. Thought it was great. Hard to condense an entire novel into two hours of film without leaving things out, but this was among the better book-to-film adaptations I've seen in a while. In fact, it's is the best adaptation I've seen since Winter's Bone (coincidentally, also starring Jennifer Lawrence).

If you haven't seen it yet, you should check it out.

My daughter and I finally hooked up and saw Hunger Games.
GREAT!
Jennifer Lawrence is a terrific actor.
Some minor differences and timings compared to books.
A darker (but appropriate) movie than we expected.
To really understand some of the movie subleties, one has to have read the books.

Got the new Joe Abercrombie book, Red Country, for Christmas, just finished and it absolutely lives up to all the previous books! Some familiar faces pop up in this one as well! This guy is fast becoming one of my favorite authors, hope he keeps writing!

_________________Stik
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TripwireArchMaster Poster

Joined: Mar 10, 2008
Posts: 1997

Posted:
Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:45 am

While waiting for stuff to come in I ran out of reading material so went to the library looking for some "Brain Candy". Stuff like Drizzt stuff or Dragonlance type books. Nothing deep.